Aurora Cannabis Shorts Crushed as Stock Hits New High
The weed stock tagged a record peak out of the gate
The shares of Aurora Cannabis Inc (NYSE:ACB) are trading up 11.2% at $8.89, fresh off a new per-share record high of $8.92. Boosting the weed stock is news Nelson Peltz has signed on as a strategic advisor, and will work with the cannabis company to explore possible partnerships and expand its global reach.
ACB stock is fresh off a three-day winning streak, with yesterday's 2.7% pop coming amid reports New Jersey lawmakers are paving the way to legalize recreational marijuana use. More broadly speaking, U.S.-listed ACB shares were already up 74% since hitting an five-month low of $4.58 on Dec. 24, based on last night's close at $7.96.
Short sellers have targeted the stock during its recent run higher, too, which speaks to its underlying strength. Short interest jumped 7% in the most recent reporting period to 77.13 million shares -- representing 8.3% of the equity's float, or 3.6 times the average daily pace of trading.
Options traders, on the other hand, have bought to open the March 10 call recently, with the out-of-the-money strike seeing a notable rise in open interest over the last two weeks. While some of this action was likely at the hands of traditional bulls, it's also possible short sellers are initiating an options hedge against any additional upside risk.